I will try to shut down the second Everyman 4063 thread that I opened before seeing this one. Meanwhile, this was my post there:
This was a bit tougher than average, and I had to confirm 17A by googling since I had never heard this term before (although it somehow sounds quintessentially British).
I also had a heckuva time solving 1A, with a big Ohhhhhh when the answer finally dawned. And likewise, it took me a long time to see the reason for 2D.
Also two answer with (non-U.S.) British spellings slowed me down a bit (but not too long).
There are numerous good clues. But far too many throwaway clues that do the wordplay and definition correctly, but don't bother to have a coherent surface meaning. Or, if you strain your imagination, you might be able to just barely imagine the scenario depicted by the clue.
I suggest that people here may enjoy the large cache of themeless cryptics that can be found at
https://www.fleetingimage.com/wij/puzzles/cru/. These generally display what it means to take the trouble to make a coherent — not herky-jerky — surface sense.
These were produced by students in a yearslong workshop by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, puzzlemakers extraordinaire, who for many years wrote the cryptic for The Atlantic magazine, and now write the cryptic for the Wall Street Journal (imho a truly terrible newspaper if you consider its editorials, but it has good puzzles).